The State Council has released the “Official Reply of the State Council on Approving the Establishment of the China (Hangzhou) Cross-Border E-Commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zone” and the “Official Reply of the State Council on Approving the Establishment of Cross-Border E-Commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zones in Tianjin and Other 11 Cities” on March 12, 2015 and January 15, 2016 respectively, approving the establishment of cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zones in Hangzhou Municipality, Tianjin Municipality, Shanghai Municipality, Chongqing Municipality, Hefei City, Zhengzhou City, Guangzhou City, Chengdu City, Dalian City, Ningbo City, Qingdao City, Shenzhen City and Suzhou city, which are respectively named as China (City Name) Cross-Border E-Commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zone, and the specific implementation plans will be issued respectively by the people’s governments at the provincial level in the places where the cities are located; as well as make efforts to conduct pilot programs in terms of technical standards, business process, regulatory mode, information construction and other aspects relating to the business-to-business (B2B) model for cross-border e-commerce, creating more experience can be replicated in promoting the healthy development of national cross-border e-commerce.

Cross-Border E-Commerce Services Pilot Cities

National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Commerce, the General Administration of Customs and other 5 ministries jointly issued the “Notice of Relevant Work for Further Promoting the Rapid and Healthy Development of E-commerce” (No. 226 [2012], General Office, NDRC) on February, 2012, and the “Special Notice on Organizing and Developing the National E-commerce Model Cities Pilot Zones” initiated by General Office of the National Development and Reform Commission (No. 1137 [2012], General Office, NDRC), headed by the General Administration of Customs(GAC), for the promotion of cross-border e-commerce services pilot cities as one of the central policies, has selected Shanghai Municipality, Chongqing Municipality, Hangzhou Municipality, Zhengzhou City, Ningbo City, Guangzhou City, Shenzhen City and Tianjin Municipality, a total of 8 cities for carrying out specific implementation in cross-border e-commerce pilot cities, aiming at solving the existed problems on speedy customs clearance, settlement of exchange, tax rebate and other difficulties about cross-border e-commerce via express and mail.

Import Modes of Mainland Cross-border E-commerce

Bonded Import (B2B2C):

“Stock first, order later” – large quantities of imported goods are stored in special customs supervision areas or bonded customs supervision areas within Chinese territory. After a Mainland consumer has placed an order with a cross-border e-commerce platform linked to the Customs network, the e-commerce platform will make a real-time declaration to Customs based on the particulars of the order, payment and logistics. After the three particulars are checked with confirmation, the product will clear customs directly at the bonded zone and be delivered to the consumer.

Direct Purchase Import (B2C):

“Order first, deliver later” –After a Mainland consumer has placed an order with a cross-border e-commerce platform linked to the Customs network, the platform will submit particulars of the order, payment and logistics to Customs in real time, meanwhile, the product will be directly dispatched from overseas warehouse, and then will be designated to cross-border e-commerce area under the supervision of Chinese Customs. Upon completing customs clearance, inspection and quarantine procedures, the product will be delivered to the Mainland consumer.

Links

“Official Reply of the State Council on Approving the Establishment of the China (Hangzhou) Cross-Border E-Commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zone”